This invention relates broadly to gas generators and particularly to solid fuel gas generators suitable for rapidly filling inflatable structures on the passenger side of automotive vehicles.
Of particular interest in the present invention is its use for inflating safety cushions in the presence of humans; and, hence, the gases produced must be nontoxic, nonflammable, and relatively cool. Such cushions are designed to be automatically inflated within about thirty milliseconds to protect human occupants of a vehicle, in the event of a collision of the vehicle with some other object.
Solid fuel gas generators for this purpose are known in the prior art. For example, a two-stage system is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,663,035 to T. W. Norton, titled "Self-Contained Passenger Restraining System." This patent, however, does not deal with the problem of cooling the gases of the gas generator, which is the primary objective of the present invention. It has been found that gases produced by combustible materials that are capable of inflating a structure within the required time period are invariably capable of burning human occupants of the vehicle, without cooling means for the gases.